Customer Reviews

Asbestos House: The Secret History of James Hardie Industries

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A surprising thing about Mr Haigh's book is the small number of villians. He concludes not that 'James Hardie knew' about the ultimate effects of asbestos, but that 'they should have known'. In its old existence as a successful asbestos company providing a popular product, the company's senior managers were tardy in keeping up with advancements in knowledge of asbestos. But they were not malicious men hiding a dark secret: they walked the factory floors themselves, could be generous to sickening workers, did not - like some of their American peers - lie to their employees and in some cases ultimately died of the blue dust too. While narrating all this Mr Haigh introduces us to many people from James Hardie's past, the progress of medical science, the business environments of the ages of the twentieth century, a tale of commercial risk and company transformation and the history of a remarkable natural resource. And he tells dolorous tales of the cruel course of asbestosis and mesothelioma on unsuspecting people.

The villainy comes later, during the age of 'shareholder value', with sharp dealing by senior managers of a company that had, in all its day to day operational aspects, completely moved on from the days of asbestos. These chapters can be heavy to read, laden with actuarial accounting, contracts and board communciations. But it is a credit to Mr Haigh's efforts that they are not too dense for the business-layman: he keeps his tale moving. Here we see the intersection of governments, law, unions and business, as well as personalities that Mr Haigh sketches deftly.

One of the pleasures of reading anything by Gideon Haigh is his wealth of anecdotes from outside his immediate subject and his lightly worn erudition: he throws the odd latin phrase in here and there, and quotes Ibsen. He can tell a good story, wring pathos from us, and bring out a 'moral of the story' concisely. The only books on cricket I am ever likely to pick up will be by Gideon Haigh.

The court case against Hardie's ex directors is still going on and we must sincerely hope that Hardie flourishes, at least for another few decades, but Asbestos House is not an incomplete story. Coming to the end of Mr Haigh's book, we feel we have followed much the most interesting part of James Hardie's tale.